"But two ground-floor rooms in Harper's house stayed on and inquiries to a PMO spokesperson were not returned. The third-floor offices on Parliament Hill that house the Prime Minister's Office were also among the few lights that stayed on..."

Well, what should we expect from a reform party hack whose environmental plan ignores the tar sands for the next ten years.

Isn't this special. "Sharply rising fuel prices angered motorists and truckers in Edmonton and northern Alberta" according the article here.

Maybe Canada, as one of the largest oil producers in the world, needs a new Venezuelan type oil policy that doesn't force us to charge the same price nationally as we do for exports to the other countries. A National Energy Policy perhaps.

The ban is lifted and the hunt resumes. You can watch it daily from the IFAW Canada site.

But apparently it's not the harp seals fault according to the Humane Society of Canada whose best argument appears to be this quote "The truth is we do not know what the effects of a change in seal numbers would have on commercial fisheries."

And confusingly even the the above St. Johns site does not blame the increased number of seals for the collapse of the fisheries.

"Harp seals are not to blame for the collapse of groundfish stocks in the Newfoundland area. This responsibility must be shared between scientific advisers and the authorities in Canada and the European Union who have allowed blatent and harmful overfishing by dragge…

I remember the original story on this farmer, right after 911. Back when Canadians were flying the Stars & Stripes. Right after Ganderonians were boarding stranded US passengers, and a tour bus driver drove New Jersey seniors home, all the way from BC. Back when we all felt like New Yorkers.

The US government started protecting it's northern border. After all our socialist country was full of terrorist cells. We were even originally blamed for letting the 911 terrorists into their country.

These American assholes invaded the small towns in New Brunswick & Quebec that straddled the border and started laying down ridiculous restrictions, rules and bull shit. One poor French Canadian moose hunter ended up being held in Bangor, Maine for months because he filled his gas tank a few yards down the road with cheaper US gas.

And this old guy Nikolai Pedersen stopped getting his mail because the US border guard's decided that Canada Post couldn't cross the border anymore. The…

Julie Driscoll doing Donavan's Season of Witch. I actually have her album.

Bought it for this version of the song. Here's part of her bio.

"Sixties pop diva-turned-avant jazz singer Julie Driscoll was born June 8, 1947 in London. As a teen she oversaw the Yardbirds' fan club, and it was the group's manager and producer Giorgio Gomelsky who encouraged her to begin a performing career of her own. In 1963 she issued her debut pop single "Take Me by the Hand," two years later joining the short-lived R&B combo Steampacket alongside Rod Stewart, Long John Baldry and organist Brian Auger. After Steampacket dissolved, Driscoll signed on with the Brian Auger Trinity, scoring a Top Five UK hit in 1968 with their rendition of Bob Dylan's "This Wheel's on Fire."

Since being branded as an Atheist in the sixth grade, when my teacher gave me a big red F for my short fiction piece entitled The Origin of the Bible. At Easter I usually just enjoy the days off from work, eat lots of chocolate and have a big meal with my family. But the increasing noise and nonsense from the born again, evangelical crowd, has finally forced me to join a group and hoist a big red A on my site. Of course it might just be some subconscious payback to that now dead teacher, who forgot that it was a writing course that she was teaching that morning or pitifully some last grasp before I die to become more social and accepted by a group of peers. Either way it is fine, just as long as we don't have to go to meetings, sing a theme song and start burning big red letter A's on peoples lawns at night. (h/t to George Carlin) I'll stick with the group and do my part with an Easter post. Easter According to Wikipedia, where I typically go to research the collected knowle…

Country Joe and the Fish at Monterey in 1967 doing some country boogie. If you thought their best, was the F.U.C.K. song, you are wrong. Check out their debut album Electric Music for the Mind and Body. Truly one of the best albums of 1967.

"To fathom Hell or soar angelic, just take a pinch of psychedelic." Humphry Osmond

About a month ago a thought came to me. The only chance for the Republican Party to win in November was to assassinate Obama before the Democratic convention. A quarter of the Obama followers and half of the independents would blame the Clintons. That could be close to 35% of the voting public and when added to the 15% hard core Bush supporters, the Republicans could squeak in again. A few burning cities and an excuse to raise the terror alerts to red would certainly get everyone's mind off of the economy and Iraq.

Then I read in the Dallas Star Telegram that the secret service stopped checking for guns at an Obama event in Dallas, no less. Wow, the plan is already in play. Of course my first thought was that this will be a great blog for the forthcoming JAWL.

Unfortunately, true to the name of our blog, a quick Google search showed that I wasn't the first blogger to think of this.

If you want to understand what is actually happening with the US economy go to the Agonist. There are three very good articles by people that are far more educated about economics than most of us are. The first by Stirling Newberry titled Rattling Apart:Captain Carnage and the Bear provides an great explanation of the Bear Sterns bail out, the role played by Bernanke and what the US Fed will likely do now. A shorter article by Ian Welsh, titled The Important Thing in a Bailout which besides somewhat contradicting Krugman (thank you very much) also focusses on why regulation needs to be re-instated in the US. And lastly Sean-Paul-Kelly, their Editor at Large has many short pieces poking sticks in eyes and speaking for many of us. This falling "Made in America" house of cards will have an affect on all us. You might as well try to figure out what is actually happening from people who know what they are talking about. Our corporate owned media (CTV, Global and their related news…

It's really late to bring this up since it all took place back here. But what gives with Canadian customs officers at Pearson wearing bullet proof vests. There is no way an airline passenger entering Canada customs can be carrying a gun, knife or any pointy shaped object. Protecting our borders!. Bullshit. Boosting your rent a cop egos while trying to intimidate is more like it.

A lot of my favorite progressive sites are so pissed at the liberals for the ongoing acquiescence to the harpies that they appear ready to throw the baby out with the bath water and go to a general election. The tipping point was the passing of bill C-484, "the piece of dishonest, incremental legislation intended to criminalize abortion" as well defined by the Galloping Beaver here. And they have a right to be pissed. This back door, private member, evangelical based, piece of crap was not tied to a confidence vote and Dion along with other shadow cabinet members went AWOL. But wait, "the Liberal leader never votes on private member bills" so I was told by my local MP. "It is a long standing rule within the party" Well fuck that and wake up a smell the roses Dion. Harper is the devil (as in a mischievously clever or self willed person) and he isn't playing by the old rules. Don't tell me that you are following rules established by Trudeau, Chrétie…

Let's start with some blog rules for myself. You can rant, comment, make observations or just treat it as daily journal. Seems like rant is one of the prime motivators right now. No topic is prohibited. You will not make slanderous, as in false or damaging statements about someone. Your can state your opinions based on fact or fiction, but they have to be your true opinion. You have to be honest to yourself. And you will run the spellchecker before posting.

About Me

Inherent vice is the tendency in physical objects to deteriorate because of the fundamental instability of the components of which they are made. It is also a book by Thomas Pynchon, and a movie by Paul Thomas Anderson which I watched 47 times in two months. I only read the book once.